Recaps
RECAP 9/12 Better late than never. Sorry if I leave out some details, I usually prefer to type these up right afterward while the memory is fresh in my mind. The party started out in Summersdale deciding their next move given the circumstances. Mur'rie continued to refuse to meet with Samuel for a number of justified reasons. Ashtok and him spoke where Ashtok believed Samuel to let down his defenses and trust him with more delicate matters of his personal life. The party also discovered the harpsichord Samuel had used silver pieces and had a silver alloy used in it's wires. The guards, saying the murderers had been detained and caught, continued to draw suspicion from the party. Following the breadcrumbs of evidence, they decided to investigate the theater while Quinn and Eugene were on Samuel guard duty. While the party schmoozed, Samuel was attempted to be murdered by some of the guards, where he demonstrated his terrifying powers and killed several with a shining object in his hand. He then returned to being detained, saying he could escape whenever he desired. He then stated again he sought a meeting with Mur'rie. The party, rendezvousing with Tobias, are ambushed by a group of were-rats and a rat swarm. Dispatching them, they met up with Tobias to discover he was about to be sacked. He also said he sent a memo to the incoming imperial troops he called in to deal with the tirbana problem about potential cult activity going on in the town. While meeting, Jameson and the guards arrived. Jameson, supported by the city council had taken Tobias position as guard captain after reporting him to the council about his illegal prostitution ring extortion (something the council was already aware of but had a hand under the table in. By using Tobias as a scapegoat, they were now freed of responsibility). Ashtok made friends with an abandoned calico cat that was stuck out in the rain and killing rats. The guards then called for the arrests of Ashtok, Mur'rie, and Eugene but not Shao Da and Quinn for assault. The reason was they did not want powerful members of their orders to arrive for the potential trial. Shao Da also speaks with Janessa who informs them she has been kicked out of town. Shao Da tells her about the imperial guard and how were rats infiltrated the guards. Ashtok also sabotaged the theater, and the party has but 2 days until the full moon. RECAP 8/30 Oh God this is going to be a long recap. Please let me know if I forgot anything, as this was a particularly lengthy session. OK, the party starts off in Thorpe 33, resting up for a week and giving Ashtok the time to study learn about the Tirbana poison and healing paste and also giving the party time to level up. The party spends a week in Thorpe 33 gaining the benefits of leveling up, when on the night of the seventh day at approximately 2 Am a group of Tirbana's attack the town and quickly kill most of the guards. The party arrives in the nick of time to save the captain and repel their scouting party. Worried now that the Thorpe was defenseless, Ashtok volunteered to stay in the thorpe and study the bodies of the Drowsers to look at their sleep poison to see if he could find an anti-toxin, as half the party succumbed to their sleep ability thanks to the mental debilitation of the poison. Before leaving, the party had an exchange with Malkiore and Valerie, and she revealed Malkiore kept her well compensated with 1,000 gold a week, vacation days, benefits, and a union. When asked how he could afford this, Malkiore simply said he had royalties on a few magic items like the rediscovering of immovable rods, a now staple in the military and required equipment for all commanders in the empire after the exploits of Elisha in the second draconian war. The remaining four members arrived in town to meet a triumphant looking Tobias, who said that they caught and apprehended the killers. The two were bandits holed up in the clock tower and were caught mid act by a group of guards lead by Jameson (the evil guard from earlier who was at the scene of the crime of the almost lady abduction and guard murder). They were also told the town was due for a shipment of silver and copper pieces which was late, and Captain Tobias asked the party to check what was taking them so long while he butted heads with the council and asked them to grant him emergency powers. He also said Samuel had requested to see them but the party ignored his request. The party bought new horses after selling the ones they bought from Thorpe 33, and spent the next four and a half hours riding. They were stopped initially after about an hour to see Jim and George, somehow having escape Mathias the Destroyer, the Black Dragon of the swamp and negotiating giving an egg looking gem to the guardian the party had previously met. She offered them a mere 2,000 gold, and when questioned why she said that such an artifact was too dangerous to be left in the hands of mortals and that as they did not have a powerful gray elven warrior to rebut her threats she could quite easily kill them and take it from their corpses. They then took the deal for 2,000 gold, and returned to Summersdale. Unknown to the party, they bought all the silvered weapons from the armory and melted them down into coins, which they are prepared to exchange for a ludicrous rate with the silver shortage in town. This also means the party cannot purchase any silvered weapons. During this time, Ashtok returned to the town, as twenty armed guards with two clerics left for thorpe 33. Janessa also arrived as the party did, and told them her hunt went successfully, she and her people killed two spawners and think they removed the Tirbana threat for at least another year, but also noted the ease at which the Tirbana was slain to Shao Da. Reaching the remainder of the caravan, they discovered it was for the most part completely obliterated, with most of the guards and civilians dead or missing. The copper had strangely been left behind, and the silver had all been taken. While a large crocodile proved hazardous to their movements, the party managed to give the animal enough space to not provoke it into attacking. By looking over the bodies, Mur'rie determined that the people who ambushed the caravan had waited there for a long time, and that they targetted the priest who was an inspector of magical energies and holy priest of magic with a silver holy symbol. The party returned to Summersdale after another 4 and a half hours of riding. It was 11, and the party had not gotten any sleep in nearly 24 hours and not a good nights sleep in 36. However Mur'rie and Eugene had a more intimate scene were Mur'rie attempted to strip Eugene of his cloths to prevent him from getting swamp ass and stinking up her horse as they shared the same mount. Eugene said he was uncomfortable, while Ashtok simply observed from the sidelines. Eugene then joined Quinn in the hot springs where he feel asleep, but Quinn and Mur'rie also heard that Father Albert had been detained as he had assaulted members of the theater using some sort of torture magic. Four guards at the scene, one being Jameson arrested him but in the tussel his silver holy symbol was broken. It was reported that the guards, lead by a now promoted Jameson would do a search of the house the following morning, and Mur'rie and Quinn nearly killing themselves struggled to stay awake until then. Narrowly avoiding creating a scene and getting arrested themselves, they received permission to be added to the mission and joined the guards. Quinn noted that three out of the four guards were evil aligned, (Jameson, Kheating, and Johnson were evil, while only Michael was good). While joining them, they found in the attic residue of sulfur, brimstone, onyx, and obsidian flecs. Father albert also owned a set of obsidian knives worth a small fortune. Upon doing downstairs, the party was blasted with a glyph spell and sustained some heavy damage (which was never actually healed) and came across hundreds of rats, some as big as dogs in his basement, feasting on eat other in the midst of a shrine dedicated to filth, evil, and corruption with the centerpiece being a blood caked wooden holy symbol and a text detailing how he trained two apprentices to take up the mantle and spread his work he started. Mur'rie also found a skeleton that has yet to be examined (something Ashtok may wish to do). Mur'rie, Quinn, and Jameson squad return to Tobias, who sadly did not get emergency powers and they agree the scene seemed a little too perfect and advised them to keep a steady eye out. He also says the magical inspector would have known Father Albert to be unable to cast such a potent spell but there are too many unknowns to simply let him out yet. With Father Albert detained, his holy symbol broken, the other high priest away on business, and the inspector slain, there is a lack of clerical power in the town, something that bothers the party and Tobias. Meanwhile, Shao Da meets with Samuel, who is busy playing the harpsichord and enjoying a rather strange meal. He taunts Shao Da on his stupidity on not coming to him sooner, and says that the one who imitated him lacks the emotion and passion he does and that they are simply using his name to cover their tracks. He then says he has most everything figured out, and that the lack of silver was planned, and most likely the perpetrators of the murder are some sort of demon cult, lycanthropes, or other evil or undead. He also says in about three days time someone will attempt to kill him, fail, and he will escape. When he does, he promises to go after Mur'rie, as she is his new "dove". Murrie and Quinn, having gone 44 hours without rest retire to their rooms. However, Mur'rie does not find resting easy, and her trance is interrupted by nightmares of a fel sort. RECAP 8/15/15 Happy Birthday to me, thanks to Mattlin for the cake, I promise not to horribly emotionally scar your character for at least another session! The session started out with the party having their parade rained on as they had a few days to wait before Janessa returned to give her their report. The party hung around town, buying (and working for) various magic items, and Mur'rie continued to lose her sanity to the antics of the insane old man Johnson. Eventually the party was recruited by Father Albert to investigate the nefarious evil doings of the theater. However, before Ashtok could explain the situation, Shao Da heard whimpering in a nearby allyway. Investigating, the party found a semi-conscious woman who was violently assaulted. The party then split up, the guard Private Jameson, giving off an evil aura, broke protocol brought her to the temple of Pelor. It was revealed she was a dancer at the theater. The guards, arriving at the scene found the other guard on duty murdered with his throat ripped out by what was suspected to be a dull blade. The guard, on high alert, hadn't had a murder since the monstrous "Angel of Death" was caught 11 years ago. There was some suspicion the two were related, and the party, gaining a measure of trust from Captain Tobias was given permission to see him. Samuel Blackheart, "The Angel of Death", was a psychopathic grey elf serial killer, rapist, and sadist. He was responsible for 247 murders over the past 300 years that are known about, and many more unknown about. He refers to his victims as his "doves", in reference to religious literature which doves would be sacrificed to a god for the cleansing of the body for purification. He saw himself as a God after discovering that the "Gods" were just beings of extreme power, and thus compared to the average mortal he is a "God". He always takes something from the victims, which he consumes so that they can't be resurrected and that part of them will live on with him for all eternity. He refers to this as "blessing" them. Not much is known about what the victims are subjected to, save that it breaks their body, mind, and spirit utterly to the point where they are nothing but a husk. After Quinn and Shao Da asked him a few questions, he felt insulted and threatened to not answer any questions unless be treated with greater respect. He is reserved, but does not tolerate stupidity well and will not waste his breath on questions and people he deems not worth his time. He also revealed he has a perfect photographic memory, and can remember everything he has ever done in perfect detail. Despite dissuasion from Captain Tobias and Eugene, Mur'rie went forward to question him and try to coax him with the fact that she was both a woman (the targets of his attacks) and a grey elf. He managed to get her name out of her, and that she was a truenamer on top of other details without offering much particularly helpful to the party. He seemed to bond with Ashtok, and revealed a great amount of skill with bodies and medical information by identifying the burned hand found at the crypt belonged to a novice necromancer, him able to tell that simply by looking at the badly decomposed and dissected hand for a few mere seconds. He also said Ashtok was someone he could trust and confide in. He also said he could escape whenever he wished, but at the moment was enjoying the lull and time off but could get out whenever he wished. Tobias and Ashtok dismissed this as the ravings of a narcissist who has no where left to go, but his conviction was thought of as unnerving. He also stated the recent murder intrigued him, and offered them a "sample" of his work so they may better compare it to that of the "copycat". He divulged the name of one of his victims whose remaining family had died, so there was no one left to mourn or even remember her save him. He placed her body in a sink hole, where it was mummified and has been for the past 15 years. He also revealed he killed Tobias' sister and the reason he has been left alive is with the hopes that he would give out her location and to bring closure to all the families of the hundreds of victims he has made over the past 3 centuries. No one knows exactly what skillset Samuel has, be is spellcasting, combat, or something else. He was caught when he willingly went into the town center and began to consume the heart of a woman, assumed to be Tobias' sister and was taken into custody. He said in the beginning she cried out to Tobias, but in the end it was his name she was screaming before she broke and he "blessed" her. (Side note, I'm trying to make this guy as despicable and evil as humanly possible. I think I'm pulling it off) The party was attacked by a rat swamp at the entrance to town, and struggled for a while as they were unable to light their torches due to the pouring rain to combat the swamp effectively. There weren't any guards on station, something Quinn noted as odd, and the party contacted the guards and informed them off the guard not on duty, after which the two new guys said they would light some torches and be on guard for any more swarms of rats. The location was the hanging tree in the swamp, which the party returned to. Running into George and Jim, they saw the two bandits fleeing for their lives from an Adult Black Dragon and BBEG Boss of the swamp Mathias the Devourer. He eventually let them be, after it was revealed the party was friends with Sy'Hael and the two bandits would be more than a meal. Their fate is unknown. The party then made it to the body to discover the sickening yet incredibly precise work of Samuel, who had honed his art for three centuries, the body well preserved in the muck. Sickened, but at the same time relieved and armed with better knowledge, the party made their way to Thorp 33, which hadn't sent out a report recently. They ran into Malkiore and his "not minion" Valerie (not Vanessa, me and my inability to read), who was more or less ambiguous and nonchalant to the actions of her boss so long as she got paid and didn't have to put her life in mortal danger. Fearing Tirbana's were responsible, they rushed there and on the way killed a tirbana scout. When they got to the thorp 33, with 73 people, they found it to be fine, with their wagon busted and their woodcarver unable to carve a new wheel as he had been sick the past few days but was recovering. They said they should get the report out tomorrow, and the party was welcome to stay for a while in the inn, but they only had three rooms. Ashtok studied the Tirbana and managed to extract some of it's revitalizing essence and a vial of poison, while Shao Da took incredibly helpful and detailed notes with sketching and precision that impressed Ashtok as well and grants anyone using them a +1 bonus when dissecting Tirbana Eyewings in the future. During the night, Eugene and Shao Da were awoken by Mur'rie crying in the middle of the night, and woke her to ask her if she was OK. Mur'rie had no idea what they were talking about, and to the two's surprise slept in the nude. Eugene saw the massive tattoo on her back and noted it had an infernal rune on it. Mur'rie, panicing, asked him to point it out but he couldn't read it. After a few minutes of copying, it was revealed the rune was in fact a normal part of Mur'ries tattoo and that she had gotten worked up over nothing. Eugene, feeling particularly embarrassed at seeing Mur'rie naked (as he had grown up in a religious monastery) quickly left the room while Shao Da was intrigued as he had just found out there was a difference in male and female anatomy a few hours earler, but eventually was forced out. The party, through progressing through the story has leveled up to level 3 and 1 XP, which they will gain the full benefits of (they still gain new BAB, Saves, and HP after a day of rest, but to gain new spells/class benefits/skill points they need the full week of study). Now the question remains, do they hurry back to the town knowing there is a killer on the loose, or do they remain in the thorp to level up/protect it knowing it is vulnerable to the nearby Tirbanas and that it would be another two weeks before they are required to send out another message? UP TO THE PARTY. RECAP 8/1/15 The party took a week off to gain their new abilities they got from leveling up and recharge. Ashtok tried out experimental cures to various STDs on the prostitutes with mostly successful results, Mur'rie did orating and studying in the library with Janessa, Quinn did more work with the town guard and hung out with Mur'rie in his free time, and Shao Da continued to scribe scrolls for Janessa in the library. After about a week, they returned to Janessa for the work she promised, only to find out she was leaving early but wanted to give them a warning before they/she headed out. The party was distracted by the arrival of Sy'Hael, the 17th level Grey Elven warrior and Mur'ries mother, who arrived after she heard Mur'rie unleashed some kind of evil on the land. After a stern talking to and checking Mur'rie for potential curses, she let her go on her way. The party was briefly stopped by the ravings of Father Albert, a religious man devouted to Elishar and Heironeous, who claimed that the theater/unlicensed brothel was a hive of villainy and scum, damned to the eternal fire when Elishar continued. Ashtok was able to push past him quickly and the rest of the party was delayed. However, thanks of Ashtok's focus on the task at hand, he managed to just catch Janessa and hear her warning about Tirbana's being spotted in the area, and if they see any insect like creatures to kill them or run from them immediately, as they are tough and a blight upon the land. They need living bodies to lay their eggs in, and while not evil their nature does put them at odds with many human societies. She then left, giving them the task of hunting down Ned the Necromancer they did not kill last session. The party made the mistake of not leaving immediately, and because of that were forced to adventure out the following day in the middle of a thunderstorm. While the bugs were a non-factor, the rain did force them to buy boats. Furthermore, they were joined by a young half elf named "Eugene", who is a favored soul of Pelor. While Naive', he is good intentioned and committed to helping his new found friends (even though he isn't all that smart). The party helped a group of travelers by repairing their broken wagon and fought off a couple Lacedons (aquatic ghouls) as parts of random encounters. Furthermore, they infiltrated the temple. Mur'rie and Quinn saw a gleam of light in the old draco-liches body and though it still alive, as a large creature above the temple spooked them. They thought their boat destroyed, and retreated further in the temple, running away from perceived draco-liches and monsters (that weren't actually there). They fought with a few zombies and skeletal archers, each member of the party killing one, and while Ashtok and Eugene both sustained heavy injuries both were healed by Eugene. When they entered the final room, expecting to fight the Necromancer, they instead found part of the room had been scorched as if by some breath weapon and the severed charred hand holding the necromancer's staff. They also found a chest of valuables (491 gold 5 silver worth and some minor magical goodies). Stumbling across a hidden area, they entered into a mostly empty room that had three objects. The first was a book which detailed a scroll hidden away in the pedestal that served as a thought bottle for Yestraz in his last sane moments and right before he died. The other was a Crystal Ball similar to a palantiri, which... to be honest I have no idea why, they let Malkiore the clearly not evil in the slightest take. (Maybe he is just so distracting, I don't know.) The party sent a message to Janessa, who contacted Sy'Hael who told them to stay put and she would get them. Bringing along Malkiore, she and he escort the party out, until they are confronted by a lone woman with a sword made of gold. Her beauty was without parallel, "You breath freezes in your chest as your eyes must be deceiving you. Standing in front of you must be a goddess of some sort, for you stand enraptured by her indescribable beauty, fearful that should you tear your eyes away you would succumb to the despair of never seeing such a thing come close to her allure. Her well toned frame is a rich tanned brown, and her raven black hair, elegantly tied in multiple braids reaches her back. She walks with perfect poise, her golden yellow eyes scanning you quickly, and as she speaks the sound of her voice is so pure and perfect you could weep." She says she is a "guardian", and offers the party a generous sum for the artifact. Mur'rie attempts to bargain for 2 million gold and "a night with her", but she lowers the price to ten thousand. When the party says no, she warns them other assassins will come and be much less kind than her. Had it not been for Sy'Hael, she would have been more hostile. The party, not wanting to hand over something they didn't entirely know what did, decided to look as a group at the scroll and witness the event all together. The party was sucked into the scroll, where they lived a day in Yestaz life, watching/feeling through his eyes him becoming a demi-lich, torn by grief, sadness, rage, and confusion. They then felt him die, and were shunted out of the scroll, feeling like they haven't eaten and slept in days. Mur'rie however, continued convulsing on the floor, until Eugene hit her with a cup of water (and accidentally the cup as well). Mur'rie, strangely, felt fine when she came to. Everyone then went so sleep after eating much of Janessa's food stores. The following morning she killed two doppleganers while the party slept and once again asked them for the artifact. She haggled with the party, eventually consenting to 14,000 (2,800 each) and allowing them to question her until the following morning. Many of the questions she could not answer, but revealed she knew and uncomfortable amount about the party and that her group was party of a library that sought to record all knowledge on everything. She also refused sex from Mur'rie six times, (to the happiness of Eugene). She left the following morning, telling them they shouldn't have any further problems relating to Yestraz or the tales of old (scary dracolich in over your head arc has been completed, good job guys!) The party is more or less rained in for a few days and waiting for Janessa to get back. What they do in that time is up to them, they can look for more quests with theater owner/other hooks, but I will say it'll be lighter in tone for a while, as the stuff we started with was pretty heavy